Holder for surgical sutures.



C. D. LUKENS,

HOLDER FOR SURGlCAL SUTURES.

APPLICATION FILED MAILZZ, 19162 gm 3 fiAms/vcc' .0. lama/v.5

irrr rare FATEN FFItJ.

CLARENCE D. LUKENS, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO C. DEWITT LUKENS SURGICAL MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORA- TION OF MISSOURI.

HOLDER FOR SURGICAL SU'IURES.

earner.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 22, 1916, Serial No. 85,792.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLARENCE D. LUKnNs,

a citizen of the United States, and residing at St. Louis, State of Missouri, have 1nvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Holders for Surgical Sutures, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to reels or holders for surgical sutures. I

Surgical sutures are, under present day methods, prepared for instant service by cutting the same into appropriate lengths and equipping each length with a suitable needle, it being then sterilized and inclosed within a sealed container, pending future use, the general practice being to place two or more of the lengths, thus prepared, loosely in each container tube. Under this practice the op eration of introducing the loose suture into, and its removal from, the container, not only involves considerable trouble and annoyance, but is also attended with grave liability of the suture becoming tangled. In order to overcome the difficulties in question it has been proposed to arrange each length or suture in the form of a bunch or skein bound and tied at its center with a fine silk thread. This latter course is objectionable, however, for the reason that rubber gloves are worn at the time of handling the suture after its removal from the container, thus rendering the cutting of the retaining strand, in order to free the suture, a matter of necessity. This is, at best, a tedious operation involving an appreciable, and more or less serious, loss of time, together with considerable risk of also cutting, and thus irreparably damaging, the suture.

This invention has among its objects, therefore, to provide a reel or holder on which the sutures may be readily wound and secured for convenient introduction into, or removal from, the container, and from which reel the suture may be quickly released and unreeled for use.

A further object of the invention is to provide a holder of such simplified form that it may be produced at a sufliciently low cost to render practicable its adoption for the purpose stated.

With these and other objects in view, the invention comprises the novel ,features of construction and combination ofparts more fully hereinafter described.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the reel or holder, embodying the invention, and showing the sutures reeled and secured thereon, the size of the holder being'magnified for the sake of clearness in illustration;

Fig. 2 is a top side view of the holder, showing the same prior to winding and securing the suture thereon;

Fig. 3 is a cross-section taken on the line 33, of Fig. 2; and,

Fig. 4: is a view similar to Fig. 3, showing the suture in place and the engaging finger bent to retaining position.

Referring to the drawing, it will be seen that the holder, which is stamped or otherwise formed from sheet metal, such as aluminum, or other appropriate material, consists of aflat, elongated body or reel 1, having its ends rabbeted to provide suture receiving recesses 2, there being provided on the reel or bobbin 1, at a suitable point between its ends, a transverse suture retaining finger 3, preferably disposed at the longitudinal center of the reel and struck directly from the the body thereof, as shown.

In practice, one or more lengths of suturing thread 1, each equipped with a suitable needle 5, is wound longitudinally on the reel 1 within the end recesses 2, as shown in Fig. 1, and secured in place by bending the retaining finger 3 downward across said body into engagement with and overlying the suture at one side thereof. After the suture has been properly wound upon the reel and the retaining finger bent to position for preventing displacement, or accidental unreeling, of the suture, the reel is inclosed within a container tube, as usual, pending future use. When the suture is to be used the reel is removed from its container, the finger 3 bent upward, as in Fig. 3, the exposed end of the suture grasped and the reel allowed to drop, whereupon the thread will unreel freely without possibility of becoming tangled.

It is apparent, from the foregoing, that the invention accomplishes its stated objects; in that the suture is maintained in proper condition for ready introduction into or removal from the container tube, and may, when removed from the tube, for use, be readily released and unwound from the reel, these operations all being carried forward Without incurring the risk of damaging the suture or liability of its becoming tangled. It is tobe understood that, in attaining these ends, the invention is not necessarily restricted to the structural details herein set forth, as various minor changes in such details may be resorted to Without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, What is claimed is:

1. A surgical appliance comprising a surgical suture holder in the form of an elongated plate on which the suture is Wound, said plate having a, transverse retaining finger attached by one end to said plate and dis- Gopies of this patent may be obtained for posed to overlie the Wound suture and retain the same in Wound condition on the holder.

2. A surgical appliance comprising a surgical suture holder in the form of an elongated plate on Which the suture is Wound, said plate having end suture receiving recesses, and a transversely disposed retaining finger struck from said plate and attached by one end thereto, said finger being disposed to overlie the Wound suture and retain the same in Wound condition on the holder.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature this 22nd day of January, 1916.

CLARENCE D. LUKENS.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents Washington, I). C. 

